Umar Khalid’s arrest in connection with February 2020 Delhi riots can be seen as cognitive incarceration of Muslim youth
FirstpostThe recent arrest of Umar Khalid is being seen as one of the most outrageous steps in a series of sustained attacks on the flag bearers of a certain cause. It might trigger a mobilisation of Muslim intelligentsia to guard against perceived state atrocities, which in turn could lead to a further ghettoisation even at the cognitive level, apart from the already existing social ghettos. The arrest of young Muslim scholars like Umar Khalid is a strong message against Muslim agitators and a step towards nipping in the bud the leadership emerging in the Muslim community. The predictability of the pointedness of the state response has affected the Muslim community’s political participation, education, social wellbeing, decision-making; collectively inducing an existential crisis. As such, Umar Khalid’s arrest is being seen as the cognitive incarceration of Muslim youth.